Penguins use power play to take down Bruins

(Getty Images) Zdeno Chara and The Bruins couldn't stop Sidney Crosby as he scored twice in a 5-3 Penguins win

When you send out guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Kris Letang on one same power play unit it’s no easy task to shut down, and that was certainly the case as the Penguins used two power play goals to beat the Bruins in front of another sold out TD Garden crowd.

Second period power play tallies by James Neal and Sidney Crosby—his second goal of the evening—just 48 seconds apart broke a 2-2 tie and propelled the Penguins to a much needed 5-3 win. The two goals came off of back-to-back calls that resulted in a Penguins five on three.

The Bruins didn’t help their cause at all by failing to score on their only power play of the evening late in the third period.

Coming into tonight’s tilt the Penguins had the league’s sixth best power play percentage at a 19.3 success rate.

Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby knew the two goals on the power play were huge.

”Yeah, for sure” said Crosby. “A lot of times that’s the difference in hockey games, when you’re able to score on power plays and the way that we kill penalties. We do such a great job with that, it’s a big boost if we can score on the power play. So it was nice to get those. Big boost from Nealer [James Neal] there with a good fight and I think we’re all happy to respond that way after that”.

The two penalties called against the Bruins that resulted in the five-on-three were questionable calls. Replays showed that the high stick called on Rich Peverley was a bad one indeed as Peverley’s stick never hit Penguins defensemen Kris Letang in the face, but regardless Peverley knows that sometimes those breaks go against you.

“Eh, didn’t look like it” said Peverley when asked if his stick hit Letang in the face. ”Like I said they took advantage of their power plays and you can’t control the calls. Sometimes you get good calls, sometimes you don’t – you can’t complain about the reffing, it evens itself out and it’s just the way it went”

One may be able to say that the intensity wasn’t there for the Bruins tonight in a game that means nothing standings wise, but Milan Lucic says keeping momentum in their favor is key heading into the NHL’S second season.

“You still want to go into the playoffs feeling good about yourselves and when you let your guard down, that’s when you do get hurt” said Lucic who had a goal and an assist in tonight’s loss.

“That’s what we talked about going into the game. I mean, we’re a team with a lot of pride and we’re not just going to fold a tent just because we’ve already clinched that second spot. So, you know, we want to end the season off on a good note for ourselves and our fans. That’s what our mindset is going to be going into these next two games, as well.”

The Bruins will play their final road game of the regular season Thursday night when they travel to Ottawa to take on the Senators in what seems to be a first round preview.

Here is some post game video from the Penguins and Bruins locker rooms